All of our services can be provided in conjunction with local state funded agencies and are not considered a duplication of services.

Free Services (birth – 18 months)

• Jump Start to Listening! is a free counseling program created by The Center for Hearing and Speech to inform parents about what to do both if their infant does or does not pass the state-mandated newborn hearing screening at birth.  Click here to learn more.
• The Houston RiteCare Infant Program offers newly identified deaf infants an opportunity to receive intensive speech therapy free of charge until they reach 18 months in age.  Click here to learn more.

Assessments (birth – 18 years old)

The Speech-Language Pathology Clinic offers full, individual assessments for a variety of purposes.  If you need assessment for one or more of the following reasons, please call to make an appointment.

• Baseline evaluation prior to entering the programs offered at The Center for Hearing and Speech (CHS)
• Bi-Annual and/or Annual Assessments for development of appropriate treatment plans for children in the Speech Clinic or to guide professionals outside of the clinic (local and rural areas, as well as international)
• Full Individual Evaluation prior to beginning the cochlear implant recipient process
• Assessments for a second opinion to a previous evaluation

Consults (birth – 18 years old)

Thirty to forty-five minute consults are provided for parents and professionals to review existing outside data and make recommendations and/or develop a treatment plan.  If you would like help interpreting your child’s evaluation and/or with the development of a treatment program, please call us to make an appointment.  Consults are also provided as a vehicle to mentor and guide a child’s progress in programs away from CHS.  These services are provided to families across the city, state, country and around the world.

Auditory-Verbal Therapy (18 months – 6 years old)

Parents are an important part of a child’s success at CHS.  Family-focused early intervention helps parents better understand how their children develop communication skills and positively impacts a child’s development.  In these programs, our auditory-verbal therapists spend years working together with parents, developing language skills and refining the speech of the child through lessons and activities at home.  The therapists also help guide parents and address concerns related to their child’s development.

The Auditory-Verbal Therapy program has been created for children age birth to early elementary school (up to first grade) age whose parents do not plan to enroll their children into the Melinda Webb School. Our auditory-verbal therapists work closely with the parents as well as outside audiologists to assure that each child is responding the best they can to their hearing aids or cochlear implant.  Services are provided by professionals specially certified in auditory-verbal therapy who use an integrative model of listening, speaking, cognitive, and communication development.  The child’s progress is closely monitored weekly and adjustments or referrals made as necessary.

Services for children who follow the auditory-verbal therapy model may continue once a week until the child reaches three, Kindergarten or first grade (depending on the age that intervention begins).  Consultation and monitoring services are also available for our auditory-verbal families.  To find out if your child may be appropriate for the auditory-verbal therapy model, please contact us.

Melinda Webb School (MWS) Students (18 months – 6 years old)

The Speech-Language Pathology Clinic provides assessment and family-centered, auditory-based speech-language intervention for children with hearing impairments who attend the Melinda Webb School (MWS).  These students are seen in individual sessions for speech, language and audition at CHS.  Parent participation is required.  The sessions are scheduled one time a week for 50 minutes.  The Speech-Language Pathologists and auditory-verbal therapists provide support to MWS teachers and parents through classroom observations, demonstrations, consultations and collaboration.

Individual Therapy (6 – 18 years old)

The Speech-Language Pathology Clinic provides assessment and family-centered, auditory-based speech-language intervention for children with hearing impairments, ages 3-18, who attend public or private schools throughout the Houston area.  These students are seen in individual sessions at CHS.  The sessions are scheduled on a case by case basis.  The Speech-Language Pathologists and auditory-verbal therapists also provide support to academic teachers and parents through assessment, consultations, recommendations, in-services, classroom observations and phone conferences.

Aural Rehabilitation

The Speech-Language Pathology Clinic also provides aural rehabilitation for children and teenagers who have received new hearing technology. Aural rehabilitation helps the individual’s brain learn how to interpret the signals the new technology provides. This therapy is typically required once a week for a minimum of 6-12 months depending on the individual’s needs.

Bilingual Services (birth – 18 years old)

The Center for Hearing and Speech provides bilingual services for bilingual and monolingual Spanish speaking families.  To learn more about this service, please contact the Center at (713) 523-3633.

Auditory Neuropathy (birth – 18 years old)

Because each child is unique, there is no one way to treat a child with auditory neuropathy. For some individuals with auditory neuropathy, hearing aids and personal listening devices such as frequency modulation (FM) systems, and/or cochlear implants are helpful. However, no one test is currently available to determine whether an individual with auditory neuropathy might benefit from a hearing aid or cochlear implant. 

Language can be acquired through utilization of a visual approach such as sign language, an oral approach that encourages listening and speaking, or a combination of the two such as cued speech or total communication. In order to determine which approach is best for any one child, parents will need to work closely and regularly with a team of professionals including audiologists, qualified speech language pathologists, teachers, and other pertinent medical professionals. The team will consider the individual capabilities of each child as well as his/her family. Changes to the child's communication approach will be made based on his/her progress.

We start with a full, individualized evaluation that includes a complete review of your child's medical, audiological and educational history. We administer further audiological assessment if necessary and complete a full speech, language and audition assessment. Based on the information obtained during the assessment we help guide the development of an individualized treatment plan. 

In some cases, this treatment plan may recommend immediate speech therapy with or without hearing aids and/or a cochlear implant. As we learn more about your child's capabilities, the treatment plan may change to reflect those needs in order to obtain desired outcomes. 

School Support (all school ages)

Once a full individual evaluation has been completed, the following additional services are provided for children and their families enrolled in the clinic at no charge.

These include:

• 1 Teacher in-service
• 1 Classroom in-service
• Scheduled teacher conferences
• 2 classroom observations (parent request)
• Scheduled parent conferences
• School District IEP/ARD meetings
• Scheduled conferences with other professionals
• One outside teacher/therapist observation of therapy in the Speech-Language Pathology Clinic with discussion and goal setting after the session.
• Monitoring and consultation

*The speech-language pathologists work diligently to prepare individualized lesson plans before each session.  Notes are taken between activities and in more detail after the session.  The last 5-10 minutes of each session are spent guiding the parents on how to complete carry-over tasks at home.  This way, each child and family receives an entire 50 minute therapy session.

Due to high demand for speech services, the Speech-Language Pathology Clinic may at any time initiate a waiting list for therapy services.  Please understand that infants and toddlers will take first priority on our waiting list.

The Center for Hearing and Speech does not discriminate in admissions or scholarship programs against any individual on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, or religion.